Pardeshi Chaudhary of Shreepur, Kailali has been queuing in the premises of Agricultural Inputs Office (AIO) in Dhangadhi for three days in a hope to get hold of fertilizer he needs for his farms and eke out his living. However, his days and nights of wait have not bailed him out yet. [break]
Hundreds of farmers from different villages of Kailali have been queuing at the office for the supply not bothering whether it is day or night. However, are not sure when they will get fertilizers for their farms.
“Five hundred of us waited at the office for whole night on Monday as well. It seems that we will not be able to plant wheat on time this season as well,” said Suvash Chaudhary, another farmer from Udasipur Village Development Committee (VDC).
Farmers complained that their ploughed and well prepared land was fast turning dry, and in the absence of fertilizer they have not been able to sow wheat on time.
“I have already prepared the farm for wheat plantation. Unfortunately, it is losing moisture fast. In the absence of fertilizer, how can I return to my farms?” said Khadag Bista of Sadepani VDC.
Farmers blamed unorganized and unsystematic distribution system of AIO for the problem. They even charged that the people having access to the officials were being supplied with fertilizer easily, while they have not received even a pinch even after queuing at the office for days.
AIO officials, on the other hand, stated that they had limited fertilizer in the stock and were distributing 50 kg urea and a sack of DAP to each farmer at a time on the basis of citizenship certificate and land ownership certificate.
As the quantity that we are supplying is far less than what the farmers need, officials said they are queuing again for the supply.
“The main problem is that we too have received far too less fertilizer for distribution,” said Gagan Bahadur Malla, chief of Agricultural Inputs Company, Dhangadhi regional office.
According to the office, the demand of fertilizer in the region stands at 5,000 tons, whereas the government has supplied only 888 tons of fertilizer. “We need to distribute fertilizer to the hilly districts from this same stock,” said he.
He admitted that the office has been facing problems in properly managing the distribution because of the short supply. He, however, refuted the charge of employees distributing fertilizer to their near and dear ones.
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